Credit Expert Witnesshttp://creditexpertwitness.com
Call John Ulzheimer - (866) 985-8884Sat, 04 Feb 2017 21:37:34 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Make sure your credit expert witness 1099s are correcthttp://creditexpertwitness.com/2017/02/make-sure-your-credit-expert-witness-1099s-are-correct/
Sat, 04 Feb 2017 21:37:34 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=330For those of you who do credit expert witness work you either have already gotten your 1099s or will be getting them soon. Double check to make sure your monies are correctly listed in box 7, “non-employee compensation.” Every year I get a dozen or so that are incorrectly categorized in box 14, “gross proceeds paid to an attorney.” And this year, for the first time, I actually got one that shows the monies in box 1, “Rents.” Ask your client to re-issue a proper 1099.
]]>Fair Credit Reporting Act Lawsuits Skyrocketing in 2015, Credit Expert Witnesses Are In Demandhttp://creditexpertwitness.com/2015/09/fair-credit-reporting-act-lawsuits-skyrocketing-in-2015-credit-expert-witnesses-are-in-demand/
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 15:35:20 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=327Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuits filed in August 2015 were up 83% from the same month in 2014. And while one month out of twelve doesn’t tell an “annualized” story, FCRA lawsuits are up 32.3% year to date relative to the same time period from last year. These statistics are according to Michigan based WebRecon, a company that tracks Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuit filings.

My Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act caseload has increased in 2015 with more attorneys needing credit expert witnesses in their cases. If you need a credit expert witness please call John Ulzheimer at 1.866.985.8884.

While these numbers are impressive, they don’t tell the whole story. Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits aren’t the only ones that often need the work of a credit expert witness. There are many other lawsuit types that require the work of a credit expert. For example, I have had several divorce cases where one party agreed to pay creditor liabilities, but did not and thus the other ex-spouse claimed credit damages.

It appears that several attorneys have been more active in filing consumer cases than others. There were 10 attorneys that filed at least 20 Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuits in August alone. There are 10 attorneys that have filed over 100 of these lawsuits in 2015 alone, and we’re just now seeing the data through August. One lawyer has filed almost 200 cases.

Further, it appears there are favorite jurisdictions for FCRA lawsuits as well. There were 10 courts were there were at least 28 consumer lawsuits, and 3 of those courts had at least 50 cases filed.

While many of these credit lawsuits will never see the inside of a courtroom, a considerable percentage will require the work of a credit expert witness with experience in the credit industry. Most of these credit related lawsuits include allegations of credit score damage and other economic credit related damages. Some have merit, and some seem entirely fabricated.

In my 185 cases I’ve had the pleasure of working with both Plaintiffs and Defendants in credit related disputes. Like when choosing a lawyer, choosing an expert witness is equally important. The wrong expert can have their testimony stricken because they’ve tried to offer an expertise that’s clearly outside of their “sand box” or they’ve gone too far in being too definitive in their opinion.

The challenge when looking for a credit expert isn’t about geography. In fact, I’ve had only a small handful of cases in GA where I live. Most of my cases are hundreds or thousands of miles away. When choosing an expert it’s most important to find someone who actually has a forensic understanding of how credit reporting and credit scoring actually works. And the only people who truly have that level of expertise are people who have worked in the industry for credit bureaus and credit score developers. Please give me a call and if we clear conflicts we can discuss your case. 1.866.985.8884.

]]>How Do I Retain a Credit Expert Witness?http://creditexpertwitness.com/2015/04/test/
Thu, 16 Apr 2015 22:00:09 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=325I received a question from a fairly new attorney last week about retaining a credit expert witness. Her question was simple, “how do I go about retaining you?” It occurred to me that retaining a credit expert is not a common occurrence for most people so her question was quite reasonable. The answer is pretty straight forward. Retaining a credit expert witness is not unlike retaining an attorney. Most expert witnesses, me included, have a boilerplate retainer agreement that we’d ask to have signed. We also require some amount on retainer. That amount varies from expert to expert. I’ve seen some experts charge as high as $10,000 and as little as $0.

Negotiating terms with a credit expert witness isn’t terribly difficult. Other than the hourly rate, the retainer amount and perhaps some of the language in the retainer agreement, there’s not much to it. Once the retainer agreement has been signed and the financial retainer is in place all of the administrative work has been accomplished. Now it’s time to get to work.

The credit expert witness normally takes some direction from the attorney, although the final opinions should be those of the expert (after 11 years of doing this I can tell you that some experts out there let their opinions be dictated and even written by the lawyers that have retained them). There will be a schedule to which the expert will adhere. Documents are normally provided to the expert witness and a thorough review of such takes place. The expert and the attorney will likely have several conversations during the review process to make sure the expert is focusing on meaningful documents and not wasting time and money on items that aren’t important to his work. Normally, in my work, in addition to pleadings I’m reviewing credit reports, deposition transcripts, production from a lender or a credit reporting agency, and production from a Plaintiff.

But, and here’s my disclaimer, all cases are unique and situations vary. So, while the above is pretty spot on relative to the process, there are scenarios where my work is very different.

In my time as a credit expert witness I’ve had to write scores of expert witness reports. These reports have a purpose and that purpose is to clearly outline my opinions regarding the case for which I’ve been retained. But, expert witness reports (aka “expert reports”) are much more complicated to write than a blog or a book report you may have written in school.

When writing an expert report for a case that resides in Federal court you’re required to include certain attributes. Rule 26(a)(1) covers the disclosure of expert witness testimony including what must be included in expert reports. Your expert report must include…

A complete statement of all opinions and the basis for those opinions – You can’t just be of the opinion that, “The Plaintiff suffered no damages” and move on to the next opinion. You have to explain why you have that opinion including any citations to support your claim. Citations normally come from either the documents produced in the case, such as consumer credit reports.

A list of the data considered by the witness – This is basically your documents reviewed list. If you reviewed 1,000 pages of documents and those documents were bases for your opinions then you have to list the documents.

A list of your qualifications as an expert witness – Sorry, but you have to actually know what you’re talking about in order to be able to testify as an expert witness. That certainly doesn’t prevent some people from doing expert witness work but generally speaking, you have to be more than knowledgeable on the topics you’ve been retained to discuss. The qualifications must include a list of all of your publications authored in the past 10 years, a list of all other cases where you provided testimony in the past 4 years and the amount you are being compensated for your work.

In my case it’s not practical to list all of my publications authored in the past 10 years because the list is in the thousands. I normally provide links to the websites that publish my work and, besides, Google works great at finding bylined publications.

Even if I’m writing a report in State court, where the Rule 26 format is not required, I always use the same template. It makes writing the report easier and it provides for excellent organization of your documents and your opinions. After you’ve written a few reports the format will evolve into one that you’ll use over and over.

The attorney who has retained you will likely want to review a draft of the report before it’s officially submitted. That’s completely normal. You should know that drafts of expert witness reports are no longer discoverable, which means you won’t have to share all of your drafts with the adverse lawyer. Still, it’s prudent to ensure that your report is pretty much finalized before you share it with anyone.

]]>Are Your Expert Reports Confidential? Credit Report Expert John Ulzheimer 866 985 8884http://creditexpertwitness.com/2013/03/are-your-expert-reports-confidential-credit-report-expert-john-ulzheimer-866-985-8884/
Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:11:54 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=320For those of us who have done credit expert witness work for many years we remember the day when expert report drafts were discoverable. Experts and lawyers would play cat and mouse games and rather than fax or email expert report drafts back and forth they’d find another way to review draft reports before submission, all in an effort to keep drafts out of the hands of opposing counsel.

I myself had a more effective, and completely organic, process when I’d write my expert reports…I don’t keep drafts. I write over existing versions and after writing so many reports you don’t find yourself “drafting” them as much as you are simply writing them. Thankfully expert report drafts are no longer discoverable so this is all academic.

But, the question of expert report confidentiality remains. Can opposing counsel ask you to provide expert reports written for other cases? Sure they can. They can also ask for a complete list of all of your cases where you’ve written a report.

Now, that doesn’t mean they’re going to get what they want. In many of my cases I’m asked to sign protective orders. And, because my reports almost always contain specific consumer credit file information and industry testimony that’s covered by protective orders I am of the opinion that my reports are confidential pursuant to the protective order. Further, in all of my retainer agreements I include a Confidentiality paragraph that says I will not disclose the reports, declaration or affidavits for that particular case unless ordered to do so by the court. This essentially makes all of my reports “Confidential Information” which I can’t disclose to a 3rd party simply because they’ve asked for it.

This is also quasi-academic because the opinions you’ve had should be consistent across cases. Assuming all else is equal, and it rarely is, then “Act #1” should be problematic in case #50 just like it was problematic in case #75. If you’re an expert whose opinions are for sale and vary based on who has hired you, then you probably don’t want old expert reports exposed.

Many credit damage experts who do work only for Plaintiffs have a problem with this issue. Their opinions lock them into doing work for consumers only and never for any party on the industry side. This pigeon hole method of expert witness work is not only bad for that expert’s business but also bad for their reputation as the industry is rarely the cause of a consumer’s poor credit and subsequent issues because of said poor credit.

Still, some Plaintiff’s only expert witnesses will never take an adverse position to a consumer because, frankly, they can’t. If they’ve testified many times that late payments always hurt someone’s credit then they cannot all of a sudden testify that Bank A’s late payment reporting did not hurt a consumer’s credit.

Balls and strikes people! You’re being hired to tell the truth..not to tell someone what they want to hear.

Credit Reporting Expert Witness, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. John is twice FCRA certified by the credit industry’s trade association. He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert witness who actually comes from the credit industry and has worked for a credit bureau and a credit score developer.

FDCPA lawsuits filed in the first half of October 2012 are up 13% from the same time period in 2011.

FCRA lawsuits filed in the first half of October 2012 are up 35% from the same time period in 2011.

TCPA lawsuits filed in the first half of October 2012 are up 33% from the same time period in 2011.

Year to date FDCPA lawsuits are down 8% at 9117 versus same time period in 2011, which numbered 9902.

FCRA lawsuits are up 16% at 1825 compared to 1571 during the same time period in 2011.

TCPA lawsuits are up an impressive 51% year to date 2012 compared to same time period in 2011.

Many of the FDCPA and FCRA lawsuits will work their way through the process to the point where the attorneys involved need the help of credit expert witnesses with FCRA, FDCPA, credit report, credit score and credit damage expertise.

If you’re in need of an expert witness please feel free to give me a call to discuss the facts of your case. I’ve been an expert witness in over 100 credit related cases, have testified at trial or deposition 33 times, have 21+ years of experience in the credit industry, hold multiple credit related certifications, have been published several hundred times on the various consumer credit related topics, have been quoted over 1,000 times over the past 5 years, have written 4 books about credit, guest lecture at the University of Georgia and The Westminster Schools, write about consumer credit for Mint.com, CreditSesame.com, SmartCredit.com and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, and have been qualified to testify in both Federal and state courts on the topic.

Credit Reporting Expert Witness, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. John is twice FCRA certified by the credit industry’s trade association. He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert witness who actually comes from the credit industry and has worked for a credit bureau and a credit score developer.

]]>When Choosing a Credit Expert Witness, Is Location That Important? John Ulzheimer 866.985.8884http://creditexpertwitness.com/2012/08/when-choosing-a-credit-expert-witness-is-location-that-important-john-ulzheimer-866-985-8884/
Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:33:24 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=311I recognize that it’s nice to have a local credit expert witness. You’re in the same time zone, cheer for the same sports teams, maybe even run in the same social circles. But when it comes down to hiring the most qualified credit reporting expert witness, location should be secondary and hiring the right expert rather than hiring the closest expert pays off in the long run.

After you have done your research you’ll find John Ulzheimer is the most qualified credit expert witness in the country. He’s been an expert witness in over 100 credit related cases, has testified at trial or deposition 33 times, has 21+ years of experience in the credit industry, holds multiple credit related certifications, has been published several hundred times on the various consumer credit related topics, has been quoted over 1,000 times over the past 5 years, has written 4 books about credit, guest lectures at the University of Georgia and The Westminster Schools, writes about consumer credit for Mint.com, CreditSesame.com, SmartCredit.com and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, and has been qualified to testify in both Federal and state courts on the topic.”

Further, the only time an expert witness ever meets his client is when he’s being deposed in person or testifies at trial. And, most depositions can be done via tele or video conference.

Hopefully this is enough to convince law firms that I’m the best man for the job. And if so, please contact me at 1.866.985.8884.

Credit Reporting Expert Witness, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. John is twice FCRA certified by the credit industry’s trade association. He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert witness who actually comes from the credit industry and has worked for a credit bureau and a credit score developer.

]]>John Ulzheimer, Credit Damage Measurement 866-985-8884http://creditexpertwitness.com/2012/04/john-ulzheimer-credit-damage-measurement-866-985-8884/
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:41:06 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=309Are expert witnesses allowed to do national work, or can they only represent local clients? I’ve been asked that question too many times to count. I’ve even had some of my expert witness students (I teach a class about how to be an expert witness) ask if there is a way to buy local leads so that they only have to do work locally, meaning they don’t want to travel or deal with multiple time zones.

When it comes to expert witness work there are no geographic limitations. I’ll use my own experience as an example. 100+ cases and only two in Georgia where I work. My caseload is very heavy in Texas, Florida, the Northeast and California.

It’s actually very easy to control the costs of expert witnesses even if you have an out of state expert. For example, almost all of my depositions are done via video or teleconference. I did one on Skype last year. Point being, depositions don’t have to include travel costs. And since most of the cases in my industry, consumer credit, settle before trial there is rarely a need for airfare and hotel expenses.

If you flip the equation and ask yourself…would you take a client who may want you to fly from out of state for a deposition or trial? For me that’s a no-brainer, you have to go where the business is. And most of the lawyers who have hired me recognize that finding the right expert isn’t a matter of geography, it’s a matter of who is going to help their case the most.

Credit Expert, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. John has served as an expert in over 100 cases, serving Plaintiff’s and defendants.

]]>How Are Credit Damages Calculated? John Ulzheimer 866 985 8884http://creditexpertwitness.com/2012/04/how-are-credit-damages-calculated-john-ulzheimer-866-985-8884/
Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:35:15 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=303One of the common requests in my credit expert witness related work is the assessment and quantification of damages caused by allegedly incorrect credit reporting and the subsequent lower credit scores that can be a result of the incorrect credit reporting. In my 100+ cases as an expert it has become apparent to me that there are a few realities when it comes to credit damages. They are:

1. There is no single generally recognized method for determining credit damages. Different experts do it different ways. In fact, some experts won’t put numbers to credit damages, likely because there are no damages or they’re not confident of their methods. There is no “miles per hour” or “feet per second” type standards to credit damages. This certainly does not mean that credit damage can’t be quantified.

2. The 3 most common methods I’ve seen are the dollar for dollar method, where the expert attempts to award a Plaintiff with a dollar amount equal to an amount of money not lent because of credit reporting issues. For example, if someone has been denied a $25,000 car loan, they’d consider that to be $25,000 of damages. The second is the dollar for dollar plus tax liability method. This is the same as the first method except the tax liability is included in the damage assessment. The final method takes a percentage of the dollar for dollar calculation. For example, if someone has been denied a $25,000 car loan due to credit report errors then the expert would take 10 or 15% of that amount and call it the damage amount.

3. Credit damages and economic damages are not the same thing. Simply having a lower credit score due to allegedly incorrect credit reporting isn’t a economic damage. There is no study or industry standard that assigns a dollar amount to a lower credit score, no “dollar per point” method. Economic damages would stem from cause, effect and subsequent effect. For example, incorrect credit reporting has the effect of a lower credit score and that lower score effectively caused some sort of economic damages.

John Ulzheimer is a nationally recognized expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and credit damages. He is a 20+ year veteran of the consumer credit industry including time with Equifax and FICO. He has been an expert witness in over 100+ credit related cases serving both Plaintiffs and Defendants. He is twice FCRA certified by the Consumer Data Industry Association. John has been qualified to testify at trial in both state and Federal courts.

]]>Credit Reporting Expert Witness, Experience or Research…which is better?http://creditexpertwitness.com/2011/11/credit-reporting-expert-witness-experience-or-research-which-is-better/
Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:51:37 +0000http://creditexpertwitness.expertwitnessgroup.com/?p=273In my world, that of the credit expert witness, there are about a half dozen people who seem to do much of the expert witness work. I’m not sure if that’s coincidental or if there are really only a small handful of people who feel comfortable doing expert witness work, which isn’t for everyone. Some of the experts have experience in the financial services industry, some do not. Some have recent financial services experience, some do not. And, some have absolutely no experience in the credit industry other than as a curious researcher.

I’ve also noticed a trend amongst these credit expert witnesses, which is that all of them, save me, do most of their work representing plaintiffs. This is likely related to the lack of experience working for the industry. Point being, we’re all credit active consumers…but not many of us are credit industry veterans.

So the question that attorneys and pro se litigants have to wrestle with is this…am I better off with a plaintiff’s only credit expert witness or am I better off with someone who has a more balanced case distribution and who actually comes from the credit industry? The answer, while seemingly obvious, is anything but.

In my ~100 cases I’ve realized that some lawyers would rather have the novice credit expert witness, one that perhaps has no experience at all in the credit industry. I say this with a certain degree of certainty as I’ve been opposed by people in the credit repair industry, real estate agents, auto salesmen, and even an electronics salesman who worked at a big box electronics retailer. None of these professions is really specific to consumer credit, other than credit repair.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve had attorneys who’ve hired me and it was very clear that they wanted someone who had experience under their belt. And, I’ve had some who’ve told me that unless I had trial experience they would have looked elsewhere. This seems to be more of the norm when the attorney is representing an industry player like a bank, collection agency, debt buyer, or a credit reporting agency.

Credit Expert Witness, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. He is an FCRA certified expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry.